SNAP4CT Blog

Ah, salad. The ultimate one-dish meal. But how depressing are your salads? Really, be honest. If you'd rather skip lunch altogether than eat a salad, you may need some help to create a proper salad. I'm not talking iceburg lettuce with shredded carrots, doused in ranch dressing. I'm talking deliciousness you'll look forward to eating, that also happens to be super healthy. You can always use recipes like the ones at the bottom of this post, but you don't really need one.

​Follow the 5-ingredient rule. Any salad with at least a "base", protein, vegetable, "extra", and dressing is sure to be tasty. Choose at least one from each category to make a salad you'll actually want to eat. ​Use our guide below to try it out.

If washing dishes isn't your idea of a good time, one-dish meals are for you. They save time with both meal prep and cleanup... and don't think casseroles are your only one-dish option! You can easily switch most of your favorite dinners to one-dish meals, but how? Follow these 5 steps to get started:

1. Think outside the box with how you cook your grains. Pasta, rice, and other grains are the basis for many great one-dish meals. The key is cutting out the draining and moving from pot to pot. Rather than boiling it on it's own, cook your pasta or grain with the rest of the ingredients. Here are a couple one-dish pasta meals to start:

2. Time it right. Start with the ingredients that need cooked the longest (like onion, garlic, and grains). Then add less hearty ingredients (like mushrooms and peas), and end with delicate foods (like spinach or other greens). Need an example or two? See below

4. Leftovers ​are king. Got some extra chicken from dinner last night? How about leftover rice? Since already made ingredients like this cut out a whole step in the cooking process, they're perfect for making one-dish meals. The dishes below would work well for adding in leftover grain or meat.

5. Test new flavors. Cutting out time consuming steps, like grilling or smoking ingredients before adding them to recipes, can also cut out flavor. Use herbs and spices to kick it back up. Smoked paprika, garlic (or garlic powder), and fresh parsley are great for this.

You may have heard the terms "one pot meal" and "pantry meal" thrown around recently. One pot meals only need one pot to make. But the beauty of a recipe also being a pantry meal, is that you probably already have most of the ingredients on hand. Meaning fewer grocery trips (yay!). What should you have on hand though? If it's done right, creating a well-stocked pantry is easy.

Below are a few items that will be your meal-making heroes on the bleakest of days. Then scroll down for some recipes that prove it and only require ONE dish to prepare... Some of them use only pantry ingredients!

In the Pantry

Canned and dry beans (black beans, kidney beans, white beans, chickpeas, etc.). Dry for when you have the time. Canned for those "I just can't" kind of days.

Canned tomatoes. We're talking diced, crushed, sauce, and paste.

Onions. Store in a cool, dark spot, and they'll keep for a couple months.

Sweet potatoesandwhite potatoes. Same storage situation as with the onions.

Garlic. For flavor.

Pasta. Stock up when whole wheat pasta goes on sale!

Grains (brown rice, quinoa, barley, whatever floats your boat).

Broth. Chicken and vegetable broth are the most versatile.

Dried fruit. You'd be surprised how much depth raisins, dates, or dried cranberries can add to a recipe. Plus they're a great snack for kiddos.

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Support

​This information was funded by the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP.SNAP helps low-income people buy nutritious food for a better diet. To get more information contact the CT Department of Social Services at 1 855 626-6632 or www.CT.gov/dss.